Alternative Island 3

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Xenophile"
>
> --- In spacesettlers, Lucio de Souza Coelho wrote:
>
> > I have already seen this idea somewhere,
>
> Probably on that Gundam website, which is where I found it. I seem
> to have lost the URL.
>
> > but someone had the following valid objection: any large body of
> > water will quickly became opaque due to the accumulation of
> > sediments and proliferation of algae and other living stuff. Of
>
> Sediments, yeah. Algae? I don't know. Some lakes are coated with
> the stuff, others are not.
>
> > course you could clean you lakes periodically, but I think that
> > would make this option kind of costly compared to the alternatives.
>
> Perhaps. Then again...
>
> > Incidentally, this makes me think that the classical O'Neil Cylinder
> > design is prone to the accumulation of dust, and that would also
> > obscure the windows given enough time..
>
> Exactly. They would also tend to accumulate, um, water. Rainwater,
> to be precise. In either case, small automated cleaners (similar to
> some of today's unmanned subs... or rovers) could do the cleaning.
> Maybe Tango's arched, clifftop windows would be less susceptible to
> this.
>
> Xenophile (trying to decide whether to put on his climbing boots or
> his flippers)